Borrowed Time
by Mimozka
Summary: "It's my fault," Shawn said, clutching his phone tighter in his hand. "Damn it, Spencer this is not your fault. Detective O'Hara was my responsibility." She was standing face to face with him now. "The tunnel wasn't on any of the schematics and the son of a bitch knew it. There's no way we could have known." "Unless you're a psychic" 4x16 spoilers. Shules! 'T' for language


_**Hello there, fellow Psych-os! *hands over pinapples* **_

_**This is my first dive into the fandom's fanfiction. I figured it was time considering I've read just about every Shules fic here and on psychfic. I discovered Psych less than a month ago and it grew on me before I could say 'pineapple'. **_

_**So here goes, my take on "Mr. Yin Presents". I know it's been done a lot before but give it a shot you might like it. I loved James in this episode. He was brilliant - er than usual.**_

_**Happy reading, see you on the other side.**_

_**Oh, and I don't own Psych nor any of its characters. Although I did wish I owned a crate of pineapples...**_

* * *

**_borrowed time_**

**_( _****_n.) - _**_time during which death or another inevitable event is postponed_

"JULIET!" Gus' scream echoed through the empty movie set which had become all too quiet all of a sudden.

"JULIET!"

And then there was a loud thud.

From his place at the prop house Shawn could feel his blood run cold. He had been extremely anxious ever since she walked into the bar all by herself. Relief had come shortly after, though, when he saw Gus follow after her and while he was aware that Gus wasn't the bravest guy around, Shawn knew that Juliet would be safe with him. After all, if he couldn't be there for her, then Gus was second best.

Before he was really aware of what he was doing, Shawn had all but leapt out of the chair and shot down the stairs. The anxiousness he was feeling was starting to overwhelm him and he could feel a panic attack coming. It took all of his willpower – that wasn't focused on the terror of what could possibly make Gus scream Jules' name like that – to push the panic aside.

Shawn couldn't allow himself to panic now. He needed to keep his wits about him and his head in this sick, twisted fucking game!

"Gus! What's happening?! Talk to me, damn it!" Shawn shouted through his earpiece. He flew down the stairs faster than he ever had.

"O'hara, somebody, come in, what's happening?" The chief's worried voice echoed in his ear, but Shawn couldn't bother enough to answer.

"It was a trap. We lost contact." Lassie's reply seemed to only solidify the awful gut feeling that Shawn had about something happening to Jules.

He ran out of the building just in time to come ahead of Lassiter and his dad.

"Something happened in the bar." He shouted to them without slowing down his run. If anything he willed himself to run faster. He suddenly found himself wishing he had listened to Juliet when she told him to exercise more.

The three men burst through the half open doors of the pseudo bar with Shawn in the lead.

"Jules!" he shouted out. "Gus!" he was looking around frantically.

"Down here!" Came Gus' slightly muffled voice from behind the bar.

In under ten seconds Shawn was standing at the door trap.

"This is not supposed to be here." Lassiter murmured, pulling his gun out.

Under normal circumstances Shawn would have made a snarky, smart ass comment about obviousness and perhaps hand Lassie a cocky backhanded compliment about him finally diving into pop-culture and popping his 'super cop' bubble with a few puns thrown in for good measure.

Right now, though, the only thing that mattered was Juliet and he knew that starting something with Lassie would not help him find her. Time was of the essence and Shawn knew that he wouldn't be able to find Jules without Lassiter.

"I'm going in." Shawn said flatly, his voice void of all emotion.

"Shawn, it could be a trap." Henry cautioned him.

"Spencer, you're a civilian." Lassiter countered immediately. He was worried about O'Hara enough as it were. He didn't need Spencer to weigh on his consciousness as well.

Shawn threw them both a look that left no doubt as to what his actions were going to be. "I'm going in." he repeated and it seemed that the tone of his voice seemed to add 'try and stop me, I dare you.'

Henry backed off then, as soon as he saw the look on his son's face. It wasn't a side of his son that he was used to seeing. Henry had long ago accepted that his son was a jokester. No matter how grave the situation, Shawn always managed to crack jokes about it, not caring about propriety or tact at all.

In fact, he had seen the same ashen expression just last year when Yang had gotten Maddie. Back at the time, Henry had been no better than Shawn though. That bat shit crazy serial killer had gotten their hands on the heart and soul of their family and there was no question that both Henry and Shawn would do anything to get Maddie back in one piece.

That was the first time Henry got to see his son finally act his age and be a responsible adult. Alright, well maybe 'responsible' was a bit of a stretch, but at that point his son had been beyond jokes and childish actions. He had focused his entire energy in finding his mother.

Henry had never been more proud.

And now there was this. He could tell that 'grown-up' Shawn was making an appearance tonight. And yet looking at his son Henry got the feeling that tonight would be much worse.

Much, much worse.

He could see through his son. He was walking on a very thin thread of sanity right now. There was a desperation in his eyes that wasn't there during the Yang case. No. Back then Shawn was focused and determined. Henry had been the desperate one. Simply because he and Maddie had divorced didn't mean he didn't love her.

And that's when it dawned on him.

Shawn loved Juliet.

Shawn had always been showing off in front of the Junior Detective and while it did strike Henry that he'd been at it for years now, he just assumed Shawn was in it for the chase.

But for his son to be in his current state it had to be more than insistent flirting and goofing around. Somewhere down the road Shawn Spencer had fallen in love with Juliet O'Hara. And as far as Henry knew – that was a first.

And if Juliet meant even half as much as Maddie meant to him then he'd be damned if he stopped his son from getting to her.

"I've got your back, son." He said firmly.

"Spencer, what - ?!" Lassiter gaped at Henry. Just a moment ago he was vehemently against that stupidity and now he's supporting his son?

"Lassiter, trust me on this." Was all Henry told him.

Shawn was taken aback by his father's actions. He didn't get this kind of support from him most of the time. Yes, his father always came to his help but not without a certain amount of ass-kissing, coercion and manipulation first on Shawn's part. Sometimes, it even escalated to blackmail and threats. So to have Henry agree with him so quickly and seemingly effortlessly was not something Shawn was used to – hence the momentary state of shock.

And while usually, under normal everyday circumstances, Shawn would over-analyze and dissect his actions to their bits in order to find out exactly what was it that changed his father's mind (only so that he'd be able to use it for future need, mind you), he didn't have the needed mental space to process such information right now, nor was time something he could let himself spare.

Shawn settled on a quick nod in his father's direction and then hurried to jump into the pit.

The fall was quick and he landed on his feet. Looking around he surmised that he was in some sort of a tunnel or a corridor but it was too dark to be sure.

"Gus! Jules!" He shouted again, hoping that whatever happened to them would not prevent him from finding them both in one piece.

"This way, Shawn." Came Gus' echo from his left.

Shawn took off again and soon enough he saw flickers of light that were no doubt a result of his best friend's flashlight.

A couple of minutes later Shawn came to a halt in behind his best friend.

Gus was crouching on the ground with his flashlight focused on something that was on the floor in front of him.

"Buddy?"

Gus jumped to his feet and moved his light from the object towards his brother.

"Where's Jules?" Shawn's voice had suddenly lost its strength.

Gus didn't reply. He didn't really know what to say. He wasn't good with pressure and bad news and that was all the Ying/Yang cases brought them.

Shawn felt like he was punched in the gut as he watched the blank, ashen face of his friend.

Not good.

"Gus please?" he barely mustered enough strength to speak. His fear was growing by the second.

Alas, Gus didn't say a word.

He simply moved his flashlight back to the place it had been fixated on before Shawn came.

Shawn felt the air leave his lungs and the blood drain from his face.

His worst nightmare was coming true.

On the floor, in a broken heap, lay a small plastic earpiece.

"Jules…"

And the worst part of it all – it was all Shawn's fault.

* * *

No one stepped foot outside the film set before the place was combed for evidence. The tunnel in particular was searched at least a dozen times. Yet the earpiece was all they found.

Naturally, Juliet's fingerprints were on the beer handle that opened the trap door and on the card that contained her 'clue'.

Yin had targeted Jules. Specifically. At first Shawn thought that she may have just been at the wrong place at the wrong time. After all, Yin did make it clear that he was interested in Shawn. But that note left no doubt as to the identity of its recipient. Besides, if Mary was here he'd say that it didn't fit the sick bastard's profile to do things randomly.

Shawn was sitting on a step with his head and his hands replaying the events of the night repeatedly in his mind, trying to guess how they didn't see this one coming.

"_Draft us a couple of cold ones and let's make a toast. To you, falling head over heels for me."_

Juliet's clue replayed itself in Shawn's mind for the millionth time since his father handed it to him. They had to take the piece of paper in as evidence but one look at the paper and Shawn had those words memorized for life.

"Spencer," the Chief's voice came from his right.

Shawn's hands dropped to his sides. He looked up at her with the smallest hint of hope in his eyes.

"Yes, Chief?" he asked, his voice devoid of its normal cheery tone.

"We're done here. We need to get back to the station and wait for him to call." She explained quietly.

In the nearly five years they've worked together Karen Vick has never seen her allegedly psychic detective consultant so affected by a case. Of course there were cases that had taken their toll on him before but he always managed to get through it with his childish shenanigans.

This time it was different, though. Spencer seemed to be in an even worse condition than when Yang had his mother last year. And the Chief knew exactly why.

She wasn't blind or stupid. After all she wasn't occupying the position of 'Police Chief of Santa Barbara' just for the heck of it. She knew that Spencer had feelings for her Junior Detective and she was almost certain that they were reciprocated (even if Shawn was yet unaware of the fact). She'd been watching them dance around each other for years now. Of course, relationships between co-workers were frowned upon in their line of work for so many reasons, which is why the Chief suspected O'Hara has been rejecting Spencer for the better part of four years. Yet, somehow, considering how fond she was of the both of them (on a personal level) she'd be willing to turn a blind eye when the time came, as long as their personal affairs didn't mess up with their police work.

Shawn, on the other hand, didn't like what the Chief told him at all. It was wrong on so many levels.

First of all, what if they got back to the station only to realize that they've missed some important piece of evidence? What if the scene was wiped clean by the time they got back here and the one clue that could lead them to Jules was gone forever? He wouldn't put it past Yin to pull a move like that.

Second, how on Earth were they supposed to wait? How was he expected to just sit tight in a chair while Jules was God knows where with that murderer?! – No. No way Jose! He couldn't just lounge in the station while Juliet was being tortured.

Shawn shuddered at that last thought and forced it out of his mind. He mustn't think like that or he'd lose the little sanity he had left.

And last but most definitely not least, what made the Chief think that Yin would call at all? In previous cases, Yin left them a clue – just one – which was later followed by a body.

He'd left them that card on the bar tonight and he took Jules. As far as he was concerned his 'responsibility' was seen to already.

Shawn rubbed his hands on his face and exhaled loudly. He could really use Mary's advice right about now. As much as he teased him, Shawn really did appreciate Mary's help in the Yin/Yang case. He felt awful now that he ever suspected Mary of being Yin.

"Come on, Shawn." Henry's gruff voice came from the other side of him and was shortly followed by his arms that were lifting Shawn up to his feet. "Let's go, we have done everything we can here."

It was at the station that Shawn finally got a grip on himself. Upon seeing just how worried and scared everyone was by Juliet's kidnapping he knew he had to stop freaking out or at the very least tone it down and rein it in. Panicking wouldn't help him find Jules or stop Yin.

"Listen up people!" the Chief's voice rang out in the hall. "The smallest piece of intel you receive about the possible location of Detective O'Hara or Yin you report to my office ASAP, is that clear?! I don't care how insignificant you think it may be – you come in and you tell me about it."

"We're missing something." Shawn murmured as he paced back and forth in the Chief's office. "I have a feeling we're missing something. Chief, can you hand me the clue?" he asked.

Under normal circumstances Lassiter would have already been shouting at Shawn on top of his lungs to stop pacing around the room like a madman because that was driving him insane, but right now he just settled on looking away from him. It was not the time for spats. They needed to work together in order to find his partner and although he'd rather be submitted to medieval witch torture by squirrel assassins in a snow globe than admit it out loud – Shawn Spencer was one of the best crime-solvers Carlton has ever known.

"Shawn you know this note by heart, now. It's just two sentences, kid. They won't suddenly get a new meaning." Trust Henry to put the cards on the table.

Shawn blocked out his father. He didn't have the time or energy to argue with him right now.

Because frankly, they didn't get it. They didn't understand that Yin was really after him and that Jules was only the bait that would make him go after the sick bastard. Jules was taken because of her relationship with Shawn and of how close they were. Or rather how much she meant to Shawn. He would lay his life down for her and Yin seemed to know that. So it was Shawn's fault Jules was taken by Yin and Shawn had to find her come hell or high water. He even found himself wishing, if only for a moment, that their relationship had been like his and Lassie's. Then she would have been safe. After all – Lassie was sitting in the office right now.

"_Draft us a couple of cold ones and let's make a toast. To you, falling head over heels for me." _ Shawn repeated the clue under his breath. And then again and again.

"_Draft us a couple of cold ones and let's make a toast. _– a bar? A pub? Restaurant?

Shawn's thoughts were running wild trying to find any hidden meaning to these words.

He sighed in frustration. No. That was the bait for pulling down the lever that opened the trap door.

_To you, falling head over heels for me. _ – now this part was tricky. Falling head over heels usually meant to fall in love. But why would Jules fall in love with Yin (of all people)? No. No. It must mean something else. Perhaps the fact that she would fall through the trap door? – possibly, but then again, the drop was not that high so that she would fall head over heels… He felt like the key was in that sentence and that he was just a smidge away from getting it, yet he couldn't quite reach it.

Shawn's agitation grew and he found himself needing to take it out on someone or something. Normally his top choices would be Lassie or his dad, but his brain seemed to push away all actions that didn't involve finding Jules.

Henry's phone rang and they all jumped at the sound. Shawn looked up hopefully, but then seemed to remember that if it were Yin he wouldn't call his dad. It would be his own cell that would ring.

Again, he tuned everyone out and started pacing.

"I know this is hard," The Chief said, breaking the heavy silence in the room. "We're ready to take the call when it comes in, there's nothing more we can do."

"It's my fault," Shawn said, clutching his phone tighter in his hand.

Karen stood up from her chair "Damn it, Spencer this is not your fault." She approached him. " Detective O'Hara was my responsibility." She was standing face to face with him now. "The tunnel wasn't on any of the schematics and the son of a bitch knew it."

"There's no way we could have known." Her voice softened at that, in an attempt to comfort Shawn.

But Shawn just shook his head slightly. "Unless you're a psychic," he replied flatly with a tired voice.

And in that moment Shawn wished that the whole 'psychic' thing was real. He's never wanted anything more in his entire life.

"Shawn," Henry came back into the room with his phone in his hand. "I just spoke with your mother; I let her know you were safe… She's fine, she's at her hotel in New York at a conference. I told her to stay put." He hurried to add as he saw Shawn's eyes widen with alarm.

"Shawn, doesn't Abigail get in tonight?" Gus asked suddenly, from his seat beside Lassiter.

Today was the 24th of February?! – Damn it, he'd forgotten.

"Oh my God, what time is it?" he asked.

"It's almost one." Lassiter said, looking at his watch.

"Her flight is landing in half an hour." Shawn said and made a move towards the door. He needed to get her and to make sure that she – at least – was safe.

"We can't afford to let you go, Shawn!" The Chief protested. "What happens if a call comes in and we need to be somewhere half way across the city in eleven minutes?"

Shawn shook his head; he couldn't afford someone else to get hurt because of him. "I have to pick her up." He insisted.

"Don't worry," Karen said, "We'll send someone to get her, someone she knows." She compromised.

Shawn stopped for a moment and thought it over. Was he willing to risk Jules' life for this?

No.

The answer was no. He was not.

He nodded weakly at the chief, giving in.

"McNabb!" The chief called out.

About forty five minutes later Shawn's phone rang.

"It's Abigail." He exclaimed in relief. "Hey Abs, I'm so sorry – "

But he was cut off by no other than Yin.

And it all went to hell from there…

* * *

He had to choose. He had to decide whom to save. Abigail or Juliet.

His girlfriend or… the woman he loved?

Shawn dropped his head on his arms at the desk in the hall.

If something happened to either of them he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

He would never forgive himself if something happened to Abigail.

But if Juliet got hurt or worse because of him… Shawn shuddered. He couldn't even consider the amount of pain that possible outcome brought to him.

And that scared him. It scared him to death because deep down he knew that there wasn't really a choice to be made.

However, that meant that he had to sacrifice Abigail for Jules and he just couldn't do that. Which is why he was in his current state.

Gus came by to ask him if he wanted something from the vending machine, but Shawn ignored him.

He was too caught up in his thoughts to answer. He was doing his absolute best to come up with a way to save them both that didn't require him to perform miracles.

His phone rang, pulling him out of his reverie and his heart raced as he saw the caller's ID.

'Juliet'.

She was alive. She was okay. Thank god!

"This is it!" He shouted and took off for the Chief's office. "This is it!" he burst into the room and banged the phone on the chief's desk.

"What is the clue?!" he demanded, pressing the speaker phone button. "What's the clue?!" he shouted. He was through with this psycho and he wasn't taking any of his shit anymore.

"_Shawn_," Came Juliet's voice through the phone.

Shawn froze momentarily. No. Oh no. Jules.

_"I'll drop by at half past four. My hands are on my face. Please come quick or this could be messy._" He forced himself to focus on the clue she was telling him instead of the mind numbing terror that was growing inside of him at the obvious trembling of her voice.

"_Shawn you could still save Abiga –_ " Juliet called out before the call disconnected

Lassiter glanced at his watch "We have forty minutes" he announced grimly.

"_Hands on my face_… It's a clock!" Gus exclaimed.

"_Hands on my face, this could get messy._" Henry murmured.

_"I'll drop by_…" the chief mused. "_I'll drop by_!" she repeated, suddenly getting it.

"Instead of a bell tower." Shawn said, thinking out loud.

"It's a clock tower!" It was Gus who finally put it all together. "It's the clock tower!"

_To you, falling head over heels for me. _– Again, Shawn remembered the first clue.

He felt his heart stop – he was going to drop Jules from the clock tower.

Oh God.

Shawn was never more grateful for Lassiter's existence than he was when the Head Detective put his jacket on, got his gun and went after his partner everything else be damned. Everything in him screamed at him to follow Lassiter but his consciousness reminded him of Abigail and he couldn't move. He knew that if he went after Jules he may just sentence Abigail to death.

However, he didn't know where Abby was. He had no clue. How could he save her when he knew nothing of her whereabouts.

"Mr. Spencer, can you tell us where Abigail is?" The Chief asked his urgently.

Shawn shook his head, wishing he had a different answer.

"I can't. " he said, finally accepting the bitter truth. "There's no way to save them both."

And with that his mind was made. "It's Jules. We know where she is. We follow Lassie, we save Juliet."

"Okay, I'll drive." The chief nodded ruefully.

* * *

Fortunately, for once in his life Shawn was happy to be wrong.

He put the pieces together and along with his father managed to get Abigail out of Yin's clutches.

The son of a bitch stood just meters away from him but Shawn knew he had to let him go in order to get Abby. Getting this bastard was not worth Abby's life. He'd find a way to catch him at a later point. He'd make it his life's mission if he had to.

Bastard had crossed the line one too many times. There will not be a third time! - Shawn promised himself.

Both him and Abby were being checked out by EMTs when a loud ringing tune came from the pier a few steps ahead of them.

Shawn jumped, that was his phone! He ran towards it, brushing away the guy that was performing his checkup.

"Talk to me!" He all but shouted, not caring who he was talking to.

"We got her." Gus' tired, out of breath voice said.

The relief that flooded Shawn brought him down on his knees.

She was safe.

They got Jules.

She was alive.

She was safe.

They got her.

It's over.

Those thoughts ran through his mind as if someone had put them on repeat.

"Oh thank God!" He breathed. "Thank God!" clutching the phone to his chest.

* * *

_**Wow. This was supposed to be no more than 2K yet it turned out to be over 4K... Damn. **_

_**Oh well, Shules deserves it :) **_

_**I hope you like where I went with this. I'd be happy if you let me know your thoughts about it seeing as it is my first venture into the Psych fandom. I'll probably write more Psych considering how much I love it and how the summer finale is next week. I have some ideas about 07x08 and I'll probably write it down when my uni finals are over and I can breathe again.**_

_**Have a great day,**_

_**Anna.**_


End file.
